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SPEECH 



OF 



HON. JAMES F. STEWART, 

OF NEW JERSEY, 



IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JUNE 13, 1898, 



WASHING-TON. 
1898. 






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SPEECH 

OF • 

HON. JAMES F. STEWART 



The House having under consideration the joint resolution (H. Res. 259) to 
provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States- 
Mr. STEWART of New Jersey said: 

Mr. Speaker: Our nation, now the envy and admiration of the 
world, has grown from a feeble confederacy of thirteen struggling 
States to its present posture of grandeur and importance not alone 
by its superiority of race, but by means of expansion of territory 
and by a very wonderful expansion of the means and methods of 
civilized life. Nations, like individuals, are a development, a 
growth, an expansion, an extension, an aggregation of means and 
methods. 

The silly argument of national isolation, the outgrowth of fear 
and timidity, is lame and impotent. No colonial nation has been 
involved in war by reason of her colonial possessions until she 
became degenerate and lost the regard and allegiance of her colo- 
nies. Every nation must at all times be prepared to protect its 
citizens and interests abroad, and in order to do this we must have 
mid-stations as bases of supply and resort, in order that our just 
resentment against foreign nations may be sure and certain of 
management and control. 

The argument that gentlemen make with reference to these 
islands not being contiguous is unworthy of support. They face 
and confront the whole Pacific coast, either frowning at us as a 
menace or smiling as a blessing. These islands are necessary if 
the Nicaragua Canal is to be built, a project soon to be consum- 
mated, and to be one of the greatest and most beneficent public 
works of modern times, and to be to us a glorious blessing or an 

egregious curse. Gentlemen on the other side, with tearful SOlici- 
3475 3 



L'BRARY OF CONGRESS 

019 944 345 8 



tude for our Constitution, and knowing our tender regard for that 
majestic instrument, interpose it as a bar, forgetful that such dis- 
tinguished jurists as Marshall and Taney have justified the acqui- 
sition of foreign territory, indisputably, under the constitutional 
provisions of the treaty-making power and the right to declare 
and carry on war. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, it was reserved to the scriptural gentleman 
from Missouri [Mr. Clark] to fear the result of our contact with 
the degenerate inhabitants of Hawaii. If history is read aright 
the solemn lesson is taught that when the superior race comes in 
contact with the inferior the inferior must go to the wall or else 
be capable of development and advancement. The Indian is fast 
disappearing, like his favorite buffalo that he delighted to hunt 
and regretted to kill, while the negro race is advancing and grow- 
ing in numbers, power, and importance. The doctrine of the sur- 
vival of the fittest is as enduring as time itself and as certain. 

Our country has arisen from lusty youth to vigorous manhood. 
We must share the responsibilities as well as the blessings of mod- 
ern civilization. We must participate in the world's destiny. 
The stars of both hemispheres will light us on, and the clouds of 
both perchance at times will darkle in our path. The bitter and 
the sweet must both be partaken of. Sturdy manhood is used to 
both, and together are the reward and fruition of all ripe experi- 
ence. The blessings of our free republican Government should 
not be selfishly isolated or hugged to our own bosoms alone, but 
the Stars and Stripes, amid the Pacific and Atlantic, should salute 
the dying dynasties of the Eastern World and bid them a cordial 
welcome and renewed life and a vigorous existence under its 

starry folds. [Applause.] 

3475 



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